Plate-restacking mechanism for addressing machines



APPLICATION FILED OCT. 22. I920.

Patented Aug. 1, 1922.

muss".

4 SHEETS-SHEET v c. CHISHOLM. PLATE RESTACKING MECHANISM FOR ADDRESSING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT- 22, I920.

Patented Aug. ]I, 1922.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

jzw zzrroe C. CHISHOLM. PLATE RESTACKING MECHANISM FOR ADDRESSING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 22, I920.

1 2% 153., Patented Aug. 1, 1922 4 SHEETSSIIEET 3.

27-7-0 F? A/E 6.

Eff-3 lea ts an o CLIFTON CHISHOLM, O13 CLEVELAND, (Bf-I10, ASSIGNQR TO THE AMERICAN MULTI- GRAPH COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATIONOF OHIO.

PLATE-RESTACKING ll'IECHANISlVf ADDRESSING MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented due. 1, 192,.

Application filed 0ctober 22, 1920. Serial No. 418,762,

To all 1072002). it may concern:

Be it known that I, (harroN Ciri'siiomr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certainnew and useful Improvement in Plate-Eestacking Mechanism for Addressing Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to a mechanism for receiving and restacking the plates in an addressing machine, following the printing therefrom.

Among the objects of the invention may be mentioned provision of simple mechanism for lowering the elevator as each plate is inserted a distance corresponding to the thickness of the plate, also a clutch mechanism controlled by the address plate drawer and so arranged that the elevator will not run when the drawer is absent and will be auto matically raised to initial position when the drawer is removed.

Another feature is the arrangement of a drawer with a slidable back-stop and means which retard the back-stop as the drawer is inserted, so that it will be retained above the entrance opening into the drawer.

Another characteristic is the provision of means for restoring the plate-retaining springs of the drawer automatically upon insertion of the drawer.

The various features of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiment shown in the drawings.

in the drawings, F 1 is a side elevation of my restaclring mechanism, with the drawer absent and. the clutch disengaged; Fi 2 is a vertical section parallel with Fig. 1, with the drawer present and the clutch engaged; Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation at right angles, to Figs. 1 and 2, as indi cated by the line 3--3 on Fig. 1; Fig. 4: is an enlarged sectional elevation of the upper portion of the drawer and elevator mechanism in the same plane as Fig. 3, but show ing plates in position; Fig. 5 is a sectionalplan of the mechanism above the elevator.

i The mechanism of this invention is illustrated in the drawings as mounted on a bracket 4; which carries a sheet metal housing 5 for the elevator and the drawer. As shown in Fig. 5, this housing is approximately rectangular and is thus adapted to receive a trough like drawer shown in cross section at 10.

The drawer is preferably made in accordance with my prior application Serial No.

slidable bearing 21 is .a chain 25, which passes over a sprocket sheave 26 and on the other side thereof carries a counterweight 27, which depends in the space outside of the housing offset 6.

A suitable belt conveyor 80, Figs. 3 and l, brings the used plates A, one after another toward the left in these figures, and discharges them through an opening 16 in the side of the drawer onto the top of the elevator plate 22, or onto the topmost plate resting on the elevator. Any suitable means may be employed for operating the conveyor belt 30. l. have shown it extending over a pulley 31 on'a shaft 32, which carries a bevel pinion 33 meshing with a bevel pinion 34: on the shaft of which is a sheave receiving a driving: belt 36.

It will be seen from the elevator plate at a slight angle from the horizontal. which is less than the angle of the conveyor belt 30, so that as the plate is discharged into the restacker only its advance edge a rides on the elevator or pre' viously stacked plates. Following the in-' sertion of each plate, suitable mechanism Figs. 3 and 1 that about to be described lowers the elevator a distance corresponding to the thickness of a plate.

To lower the elevator, the sprocket wheel 26 is given a periodic partial rotation, the peripheral amount of which corresponds to the thickness of a plate. This sprocket wheel is mounted on a shaft 40 journale'd in frame bearings 41 and 42. Slidable on the shaft, but splined to it, is a shiftable sleeve shaft of this worm is shown as provided with a pinion 4-8 meshing with a pinion 49 on a shaft 50. The shaft 50 is rotated bymechanism (not shown) in proper timed relation with the conveyer 30, so that as the latter feeds a plate to the restacker the worm gearing and the engaged clutch lower the elevator a distance corresponding to the thickness of a plate.

To cause the elevator to automatically return to. its uppermost position whenever the filled drawer is removed, I make the counterweight 27 heavy enough to more than counterbalance the unloaded elevator, and I provide means whereby the removal of the drawer automatically disengages the clutch. Accordingly the simple act of drawing out the filled drawer restores the elevator to initial positionready for a new empty drawer.

To cause the drawer to control the clutch, I preferably provide a lever 60 pivoted at 61 to a frame member, and having a'bifurcated upper end carrying pins engaging a rperipheral groove 64 in the sleeve 44, this lever having a cam projection '65 which may stand in the pathof the adjacent side of the drawer. A spring 68 tends to swing the lever into the position shown in 1, to disengage the clutch. In this position the edge of the projection 65 extends into the path of the adjacent side of the drawer, so that when the drawer is inserted the projection is engaged and the lever forced back. into posltion to cause the clutch to engage, as

shown in Fig. 2. It results from this that the act of putting the drawer in place automatically causes engagement of the clutch which controls the movement ofthe elevator; correspondingly, the withdrawal of the of the drawer near the upper end. 'COIlVGIllBIit to have in the drawer a slidable drawer opens the clutch and stops the drive of the elevator, enabling its counter-weight to return to its initial position. This feature of disconnecting the clutch by removing the drawer has the further advantage that this portion of the machine is inoperative whenever the drawer is absent, preventing the restacking mechanism starting until a drawer is put in place to receive the plates. 7

As heretofore explained, the plates A are inserted through an opening 16 on the side I It is back stop 7 O to keep the plates substantially vertical when the drawer is placed horizon tal in its cabinet. To maintain this back stop above the opening 16, when the drawer esa-r53 serted. The result is that the opening 16 in the drawer side comes below the plane at the bottom of the back stop, the back stop being thus retained in the head end of the drawer withdrawn from the interior of the drawer, these ends bearing against the outer side of the wall of the drawer just below opeiiings 82 therein. Now,'when such a drawer is inserted in the rest-aching mechanism just before it comes to its final position these bent ends engage stationary pins 85, which prevent their further downward movement thereof, so that the openings 82 come opposite them in the bottom position .in the drawer. The bent ends thereupon spring into the openings and thus project into the interior of the drawer in a position to engage the plates, as shown in F 2 and 5, and support them not only. during the re stacking but thereafterduring the trans-- ferring and storing of the drawer.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim: 7

1. In a restacking mechanism for addressing machines, the, combination with'means for holding a drawer, of an elevator adapted to operate in the drawer, means for inserting plates in the drawer above the elevator, and means for automatically lowering the elevator for each plate inserted. 1

2. In an addressing machine,thecombination of means for holding a drawer in an upright position, means for feeding plates into the upper end portion of the drawer, and elevator in the drawer adapted to support the plates, mechanism for depressing the elevator for each plate inserted, and means for automatically returning the elevator to its initial position after the drawer has been loaded and removed.

3. In an addressing machine, the combination of means for holding a drawer, means for feeding plates into it, an elevator to support such plates, and means including a disengageable clutch adapted to automatically lower the elevator step by step.

4:.In an addressing machine, the combination of means for holding a drawer in an upright position, means for feeding the plates into the drawer nearits upper end, an elevator vertically guided within the drawer, mechanism for periodically lowering the elevator, and a counter-weight for returning the elevator.

5. In an addressing machine, the combination of means for holding a drawer, means for feeding plates'into it, an elevator to support such plates, means for lowering the elevator step by step as the plates are inserted, and means initiated by the removal of the drawer for returning theelevator to initial position.

6. In an addressing machine,the combination of a drawer, means for feeding plates into it, an elevator, means for lowering the elevator including a clutch, and a counterweight adapted to return the elevator when the clutch is disengaged.

7. In an addressing machine, the combination of means for holding a drawer to receive address plates, means for feeding such plates into the drawer, an elevator for supporting the plates, a clutch for COIltiOllillg the elevator, and means whereby the insertion of the drawer closes the clutch.

8. In an addressing machine,the combination of means for holding drawer to receive address plates, means for feeding such plates into the drawer, an elevator for supporting the plates, a clutch for controlling the elevator, and means whereby the removal of the drawer disengages the clutch.

9. In an addressing machine, the combination of a drawer, an elevator adapted to operate therein, and drawer controlled means to operate the elevator only when the drawer is present.

10. The combination, with a drawer into which plates may be fed, of an elevator, clutch controlled mechanism operable only when the drawer is present to remove the elevator periodically, and mechanism operable only when the drawer is absent to restore the elevator.

11. In a restacking mechanism for addressing machines, the combination with a drawer having movable retaining means, and means whereby the insertion of the drawer in the machine will move the retaining means from inactive to active position. 19. The combination, with a drawer having a spring retaining device adapted to hold itself inactive, and mechanism adapted to automatically render the retaining device active when the drawer is put in position.

The combination, with a drawer having a spring retaining device adapted to extend crosswise of the drawer, but when withdrawn adapted to hold itself withdrawn,

and an abutment adapted to be engaged by the spring to cause it to become active when the drawer is inserted in the machine.

14. The combination, with a drawer, Of a spring secured thereto, and having an inward projection adapted to extend inwardly through an opening in the drawer, and adapted also to stand against the exterior of the drawer adjacent to the opening, and an abutment in the machine which engages the projection and causes it to register with the opening when the drawer is inserted.

15. In a restacking machanism foran addressing machine, the combination of a drawer, means for inserting plates thereinto, a movable back stop in the drawer, and automatic means for causing the back stop to assume a position beyond that where the plates are inserted.

16. The combination, with a drawer having an inserting opening in its side near the head end, and a back stop in the drawer, and means for automatically causing it to assume a )osition be 0nd said ooenin when the drawer is inserted in the machine.

17. In an addressing machine, the combination, of a means for holding a drawer having an opening near its head end, a conveyer for feeding plates into the drawer through.

said opening, a slidable back stop in the drawer, and means for automatically positioning said back stop between the opening and the head of the drawer when the drawer is inserted in the machine.

18. In a stacking mechanism, receptacle holding means, an elevator adapted to operate in a receptacle held on said means, and means to convey the articles to be stacked to the elevator.

19. In a stacking machine, the combination of means for removably holding a receptacle, a movable carrier on said machine elevator adapted to operate in the receptacle for receiving the articles to be stacked above the elevator, and means for lowering the elevator as each article is inserted.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto afiix my signature.

CLIFTON CHISHOLM. 

